CES: Sharp Intros Hi-Def Set for Those Not Ready for Ultra HD

By Tiernan Ray

I'm at the Mandalay Bay hotel convention center in Las Vegas, where Sharp (6753) Electronics is getting underway at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Chairman Toshi Osawa is on stage. He is talking about the company moving into the growth phase in 2014. He brings up the company's “IGZO” display technology, standing for “Indium, Gallium, Zinc Oxide.” IGZO, you may recall, was a big topic for Sharp at the show last year, and has long been rumored to be Apple's (AAPL) preferred technology for displays for the iPad.

Sharp's head of marketing for the Americas, John Herrington, takes the stage. He notes Sharp has sold more than 2 million TVs of 60 inches or larger into U.S. homes. Herrington is going to introduce the latest models of large-screen TVs.

The new sets have new options both for hi-def and Ultra Hi Def.

The entry-level set in the “Aquos” line is an HD set, with the 4K at the top of the line, “for the customer who simply wants the finest high-resolution screen available.” But the company is also redesigning its “Aquos Q” line that boosts standard hi-def by a third in terms of pixel count. And just above that is the set for those who aren't ready to pay the 4K price tag. Herrington calls it the “Aquos Q-Plus,” which boosts hi-def sets by ten million pixels. Herrington calls it the highest-resolution hi-def set available. Q-Plus is the only hi-def set that will play 4K content, he claims.

The sets will be available “in a matter of weeks.”

Sharp's head of product marketing Jim Sanduski takes the stage. He points out that the largest set, the 90-inch hi-def model, is the largest HD set on the market. Sanduski says the Q-Plus can be cheaper than a 4K because the panel is cheaper to make, and the set's final price can be half that of a 4K set. The Q-Plus is broken into two models, “SQ” and “UQ.” The latter is the premium model, made for those who want elegant metal frame and other such perks.

The 4K sets will ship this summer, in 60-inch and 70-inch models, and other sizes will be announced later this year, he says. Sanduski says competitors' 4K sets are “three times the price.”

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Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools.